


Not all those who wander are lost

by VaultGirl2077



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Canon Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Childhood, Coming of Age, Drama, Drama & Romance, Escape, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Ghouls, Heroes & Heroines, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Murder, Origin Story, Post-Apocalypse, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Vault 101
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-11-24 20:44:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18169643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VaultGirl2077/pseuds/VaultGirl2077
Summary: When the great bombs fell, the doors of Vault 101 slid closed - never to be reopened again.No one ever enters. No one ever leaves.Freya never did like that rule...





	Not all those who wander are lost

“Come on, sweetheart. It’s almost time for your party. You can't hide in the vent all day. Amata has worked so hard and everyone is waiting for you.” The Doctor of Vault 101 insisted as gently as he could, slowly edging up higher on his tiptoes so he could get a better look at his daughter.

“I'm not going! He's going to be there and it's all his fault!” The small girl huffed, turning her back and shuffling herself further into her secret hiding place. 

From the moment she took her first steps, Freya Daniels had always been a wanderer. In fact, it was her habit of exploring that had got her into this mess in the first place. 

“Ah yes. I did see Butch running off with a bloody nose a little while ago. What did he do this time?” 

“He snuck up on me and I got my hair caught. He said he'd help and...and…” Freya trailed off, her words hitching and catching in her throat from the emotion. 

Her voice was replaced by the sound of leather being dragged across metal, until her head poked out of the vent and looked up at her father. That was when he saw exactly what the problem was. 

“Oh! Well...Isn’t that...I...I think it looks lovely, sweetheart! A sophisticated new style for your birthday. The big one zero!” James reassured with an enthusiastic smile.

Freya didn’t respond. She knew her father was just trying to be kind but her hair spoke for itself.

Her hair was not her choice and it was not her fault. She had been absolutely fine until Butch had snuck up on her and startled her. While scouring the vents she’d overheard Stanley mention how there was a light out down in the reactor and he was too large to get close to it. Freya thought she’d help as she most certainly was not too big to get there.

It was all going well until the last few seconds. Freya was about to pull away after replacing the bulb and that was when she heard Butch’s accusatory voice asking her what she was doing there.

_ “Kids aren’t allowed in the reactor.” _ He’d chastised smuggly, either not having the common sense or the care to realize that that rule applied to him too.

Jumping in surprise, Freya lost her footing, resulting in her hanging from the metal casing of the light by her unruly mane of red hair. 

While she screamed from the searing pain in her scalp, Butch had panicked and put himself underneath her to stand on for support. Using quick thought and just as quick action, The boy had brandished the pocket knife that Freya knew he was not meant to have; before she could protest, he cut her free. 

The pair of them both fell to the floor in a grumbling heap. Eventually Freya rose to her feet and dared look at the ceiling. Though the patch still burned fiercely from the strain even now, Freya wished he’d just left her there. Seeing all that hair stuck to the ceiling made her small heart sink. 

Then he had the audacity to start laughing. Freya was not responsible for her actions after that.

Butch dropped his knife while he ran away crying from the scuffle. Freya had grabbed it as she scurried off into her hiding place, using it to try and even out some of the damage. Her waist length auburn curls had been taken up to her shoulders and she felt absolutely hideous. 

“Would it make you feel better if I told you that I have it on good authority that Stanley had gotten you a baseball cap? Not to mention, if you don’t come out then Butch may get some of your cake before you. We can’t let that happen.” James pointed out, lifting his arms as an invitation.

Freya hadn’t considered this and felt the anger bubble within her. With great reluctance, she kicked her legs out of the edge of the vent and pushed herself into her father’s arms so he could take her to her Birthday party.

 

Of course Butch had been there and of course they had gotten into another fight when he tried to take the sweetroll that Old Mrs Palmer had given to her as a gift. Some form of compensation for the swollen nose he was now forced to wear. He didn't exactly have the best reaction to Freya licking it all over before slapping the wet pastry into his face. It wasn’t the first time that the guards had to literally drag them off each other nor would it be the last.

They always fought like cat and dog. Incompatible to their very cores. Even as they got older and their hormones made that unbridled anger turn to attraction, no one could ever ignite such pure rage in the otherwise docile doctor’s daughter than Butch DeLoria.  

Though throughout all of their fights, there was none quite as bad as the day of the G.O.A.T…

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Amata Almodovar had been Freya's best friend since the two were infants. Having both lost their mothers young, it only made sense that the small girls found comfort in each other through their grief. But that's not all there was to their ever growing friendship. The pair shared strong minds and equally strong morals. They were inseparable throughout all of their lives, more like sisters than friends. Able to trust and understand each other so innately, that it was as if they shared a telepathic link.  

That was, except when it came to one particular area of Freya’s life, or rather, one person. No matter how much Amata tried to understand what her friend saw in Butch DeLoria, she just couldn’t see it. He was arrogant, rude and downright confrontational.

Always looking down on people trying to keep the Vault peaceful and happy and always breaking the rules to cause trouble. Still despite this, since they were 12 years old, Freya had found herself in a constant volatile cycle of being in and out of a relationship with the head Tunnel Snake. The term like chalk and cheese didn’t do them justice, they were just never going to work despite the inexplicable attraction. No matter how viciously they fought and hurt each other, that magnetic force would drag them back together time after time again. 

Well, until the day of the G.O.A.T exam. That would be the day that Freya was finally able to hammer the final nail into any desire she had for the troubled boy.

As she was rounding the corner to meet Amata, as she always did before class, that was when she saw Butch, Wally and Paul surrounding the Overseer’s daughter like a pack of wild dogs on prey. 

“Get out of my way you stupid Tunnel Snakes!” Amata snapped, shoving Butch as he boxed her in closer. 

“I can show you a real Tunnel Snake, Amata.” He sneered back, arm up against the wall next to Amata’s head to stop her getting by.

“God, Butch! Why can’t you just leave me alone?!” She retorted, her voice dripping with exasperation and just the slightest hint of fear.

“What are you going to do, Amata? Run and tell your daddy on me?” He laughed cruelly, his hand reaching to his pocket and Freya knew exactly what he kept there. 

Before her head had got the memo, Freya’s legs had rushed her forward. Using all the strength she could muster from the adrenaline, she rammed her pixies frame into Butch and pinned him to the wall. 

“Leave her alone or you answer to me.” Freya hissed. 

“And who are you? Her Girlfriend? Ha! Should have known.” Butch laughed purposely eyed her from head to toe. Like a switch had been flipped, all she saw was red. He’d hit a nerve and they both knew it. 

The reason she’d broken up with him this time was because he said her haircut made her look like a guy and her small chest didn’t help matters. How he didn’t want the guys to think he had a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend. Now he was here harassing her best friend? It was the final straw. Despite the fact she was smaller than Amata by at least half a foot, Freya swung for Butch, landing a smack across the jaw which spun his head to the side from the impact. Immediately she felt herself being dragged off him and pulled to the floor by his two lackies.

“Get off of her! Leave her alone!” Amata yelled, pulling off Wally who was about to land a punch and dragging him on top of her.

Freya barely noticed the other two were there, the only fight she had was with Butch and she made sure he felt the full force of her wrath. 

“What the hell is going on here? Break it up! Break it up!” Mister Brotch yelled as everyone but Butch and Freya scrambled to get to their feet. “You’ve all got the G.O.A.T to take so unless you’re all hoping to sign up for the vault wrestling team, stop the fighting and go take a seat.” The teacher ordered as Amata, Paul and Wally scurried off. That’s when he heard Freya and Butch still cursing each other at his feet. 

“DeLoria! Daniels! Goddamnit, I said  break it up!” He yelled once more before leaning down and grabbing each of them by the scruff and dragging them to their feet. “Enough! The test is about to start. I want you both to see me afterwards...You two are worse than wild animals. Freya, I’d expect better of you.” He sighed and let them go, purposefully positioning himself between the two teenagers to stop them going at it again. At his words Freya found her composure.

“Sorry, Mister Brotch. I-” She glanced at Butch who was glaring at her through a swollen eye and fat lip. “It won’t happen again. I’m done wasting my time on this loser.” She glared back and turned on her heel, knowing that there was not a single chance of any making up this time.

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The results for the biggest exam of their short lives told Freya exactly what she already knew. She was destined to be Vault Doctor just like her father. Though while he was speaking to her and Butch, Mister Brotch did warn her that Overseer Almodovar was unlikely to appoint a Physician that had a tendency for attacking their patients. Butch had started snickering before the teacher cut him off and informed him that his ideal job would be a hairstylist. Freya didn’t laugh, in fact she didn't say anything before walking away and catching up with Amata. That's how he knew she was serious.

Butch left it a few days and eventually swallowed his pride to come and talk to her while Paul and Wally were sick. Any other time before this and they’d have been down in the reactor and making out before either of them had time to think about why they were even angry in the first place. But not this time. Freya had meant what she’d said and simply told him that she didn’t want to speak to him anymore. From that day on, Butch didn’t bother either of the girls beyond the odd jeer in the hallway to keep up appearances.

Life for the next three years in the Vault passed without much trouble or event. While Amata studied to take after her Father, Freya did the same with her own. Science had always been her favourite subject and she’d idolized her Father and his work her entire life. Helping people was in her nature and the fact she was good at it was just a bonus. 

Though her early life had been filled with a restlessness to explore and maybe even leave the vault one day, as she got older and spent those long days seeing patients and filling out medical reports with her father, she realised that life in the Vault may have been a little dull sometimes, but she was happy and, more importantly, her father was happy. She may feel restless and selfish at times, but she was needed here. She was making a difference to her fellow dwellers lives and making her mother and father proud with the life they had always wanted for her. 

There was no point mourning and yearning for something she’d never known and never would know. She was born here, just like her parents and their parents before them. 

And she would die here just like them too...

Because in Vault 101, no one ever enters, and no one ever leaves.


End file.
